Bhagavad-gītā As It Is

Bhagavad-gītā 7.3

Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse, etc.] [devotees repeat]

manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ [Bg 7.3]

[break] [01:38]

Translation: "Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth."

Prabhupāda:

manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ [Bg 7.3]

To understand Kṛṣṅa in truth, not superficially, but in fact, that we can understand, as Kṛṣṅa says in the beginning of this chapter,

mayy āsakta-manāḥ pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ asaṁśayaṁ samagraṁ māṁ yathā jñāsyasi tac chṛṅu [Bg 7.1]

How Kṛṣṅa is truth, the Absolute Truth, although the Absolute Truth is described in three phases in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam... Just like vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ [SB 1.2.11].

[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]

This tattva. Here it is said, tattvataḥ. The truth, Absolute Truth, is called tattva. So vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ. Tattva-vid. Vid means knowledge. Vetti veda vido jñāne. One who has got complete knowledge, he is called vid, tattva-vid. So tattva-vid, they ascertain the tattva, the truth, in three ways. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam. So knowledge of the truth is nondual. Absolute means nondual—no relative—absolute, advaya-jñāna. So what is that advaya-jñāna? Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. So to approach Kṛṣṅa, to understand, one has to go through the brahma-jñāna, brahmeti; then Paramātmā, paramātma-jñāna; then kṛṣṅa-jñāna. Brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate.

So generally, those who are inquiring about the Absolute Truth, they come to the point of brahma-jñāna. Brahma-jñāna. Then, if one makes further advance, then he can understand paramātma-jñāna. Paramātma-jñāna means the all-pervasive Personality of Godhead, localized aspect. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe arjuna tiṣṭhati [Bg 18.61].

[The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.]

That is paramātma-jñāna. First of all, brahma-jñāna, then paramātma-jñāna, then bhagavad-jñāna. Bhagavān iti śabdyate. That bhagavān is Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅas tu bhagavān svayam [SB 1.3.28].

[All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṅa is the original Personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.]

Bhagavān means opulent.

aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ jñāna-vairāgyayoś caiva bhaga itī ṣaṅṅāṁ ganā [Viṣṅu Purāṅa 6.5.47]

[Full wealth, strength, fame, beauty, knowledge and renunciation—these are the six opulences of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.]

One who has complete, in possession, all wealth, aiśvarya; samagrasya, all, samagrasya... So that is the one of the items of becoming Bhagavān. Nowadays there are so many Bhagavāns, so-called Bhagavān, but this is the first step: aiśvaryasya samagrasya, whether you possess all the wealth. Who can say so? There are... A person, he is living by begging, and he's claiming to become Bhagavān. So that is not the definition of Bhagavān. Bhagavān must possess all the wealth. As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.29]:

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

"I am the proprietor of the all the planetary system, all the lokas, all the universes." Actually that is the fact. So one who is begging for his livelihood, he is claiming, "I am Bhagavān." Just see.

They do not know what is Bhagavān. These rascals who unnecessarily, unceremoniously claiming to become Bhagavān, they do not know what is Bhagavān. Bhagavān is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā:

yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṅḍa-nāthāḥ viṣṅur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣo govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.48]

[Brahmā and other lords of the mundane worlds, appearing from the pores of hair of Mahā-Viṣṅu, remain alive as long as the duration of one exhalation of the latter [Mahā-Viṣṅu]. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda of whose subjective personality Mahā-Viṣṅu is the portion of portion.]

This is one of the description of Bhagavān, Govinda. Kṛṣṅa is Govinda. So govindam ādi-puruṣam. He's the original, primeval Lord.

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṅaḥ sac-cid-ānanda vigrahaḥ anādir ādir govindaḥ sarva-kāraṅa-kāraṅam [Bs 5.1]

[Kṛṣṅa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]

So these Bhagavān... There are expansion of Bhagavān. Advaitam acyutam anādim ananta-rūpam [Bs 5.33].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal puruṣa; yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.]

Bhagavān has got unlimited number of expansions. It is stated, "Just like you cannot count in the river how many waves are flowing, similarly, you cannot count even how many expansions are there of Bhagavān."

So one of the expansion of Bhagavān is Mahā-Viṣṅu. Yasya hi kalā-viśeṣo, viṣṅur mahān sa iha yasya kalā-viśeṣaḥ. Kalā-viśeṣaḥ means... Kalā means part of the expansion—not direct expansion, but part of the expansion. That is called kalā. Aṁśa-kalā. Aṁśa means direct expansion, and kalā means expansion of the aṁśa. So the Mahā-Viṣṅu is described as kalā-viśeṣaḥ, an expansion of the aṁśa, secondary. And what is that Mahā-Viṣṅu? Now, yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalambya jīvanti loma-vilajā jagad-aṅḍa-nāthāḥ [Bs 5.48].

Jagad-aṅḍa means this universe. There are millions and millions of universes. This is only one universe. This universe what you are seeing, this is only one. There are millions. [aside:] What is that? This is... This information we get also from the Vedic literature,

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṅḍa-koṭi- koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.40]

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, whose effulgence is the source of the nondifferentiated Brahman mentioned in the Upaniṣads, being differentiated from the infinity of glories of the mundane universe appears as the indivisible, infinite, limitless, truth.]

So yasyaika, yasya prabhā. This brahma-jyoti, brahma-jñāna, is just like the rays. As the sunshine is the rays of the sun globe, similarly, the rays of the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is brahma-jyoti. And within that brahma-jyoti, there are innumerable universes. So in each universe... We have given the picture in our title cover of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So in each universe there are innumerable planets. In this way, this is a partial expansion, partial exhibition of Kṛṣṅa. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:

athavā bahunaitena kiṁ jñātena tavārjuna viṣṭabhyāham... ekāṁśena sthito jagat [Bg 10.42]

[But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.]

Ekāṁśena. This whole, all the universes, they are simply partial exhibition of the partial expansion of Kṛṣṅa. Yasyaika-niśvasita-kālam athāvalam... [Bs 5.48].

In this way you have to study Kṛṣṅa. Not that "Kṛṣṅa was born in His maternal uncle's house at Mathurā, and He played with the gopīs or the cowherd boys." That is actual fact, but one should understand Kṛṣṅa how great He is. That is called tattvataḥ.

manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaścin vetti māṁ tattvataḥ [Bg 7.3]

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

They simply superficially study Kṛṣṅa. Therefore they cannot understand how great is Kṛṣṅa. In the Western world they say, "God is great." But one should understand how great He is. That is tattvataḥ. Otherwise, we shall be misled. We cannot understand Kṛṣṅa. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam [Bg 9.11].

[Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.]

The rascals, fools, asses—mūḍhāḥ means asses—they deride Kṛṣṅa, "Oh, Kṛṣṅa I understand. What is that Kṛṣṅa?" Not like that. Therefore Kṛṣṅa says, manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu: "Out of many, many millions of persons..." First of all let him become siddha. Siddha means perfect. Everyone is imperfect. Everyone commits mistake. This is imperfection. Everyone commits mistake, everyone becomes illusioned, everyone's sense perception are all imperfect, and everyone is a cheater. These are the deficiency of the conditioned soul. One does not know what is Kṛṣṅa, and he wants to become Kṛṣṅa: "I am God. I am Kṛṣṅa."

So this is cheating. Bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsa, karaṅa-pāṭava. One should understand Kṛṣṅa, what is Kṛṣṅa. There are so many Vedic literatures to understand... Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ [Bg 15.15].

[I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.]

If you are studying Vedas, if you are Vedāntist, then ultimate knowledge will depend how you have understood Kṛṣṅa. Vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ [Bg 15.15]. If you do not understand Kṛṣṅa, what is the use of your studying Vedānta and Vedas? It is useless. Śrama eva hi kevalam [SB 1.2.8].

[The occupational activities a man performs according to his own position are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Personality of Godhead.]

So don't try to understand Kṛṣṅa in that way. Generally, they understand Kṛṣṅa very easily—they are called sahajiyās—that "Kṛṣṅa was a young boy, and He was joking with the gopīs and dancing with the gopīs, and that is Kṛṣṅa. We can imitate also. We can do also." This kind of understanding means he's a rascal; he's a fool. That is, of course, Kṛṣṅa's one of the pastimes. But that is not this ordinary young boy and young girl's pastime. No. That is cinmaya. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. That is ānanda-cinmaya-rasa.

We have no understanding what is ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. We are accustomed to taste this material ānanda, sense gratification. There are... Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham [SB 7.9.45].

[Sex life is compared to the rubbing of two hands to relieve an itch. Gṛhamedhīs, so-called gṛhasthas who have no spiritual knowledge, think that this itching is the greatest platform of happiness, although actually it is a source of distress. The kṛpaṅas, the fools who are just the opposite of brāhmaṅas, are not satisfied by repeated sensuous enjoyment. Those who are dhīra, however, who are sober and who tolerate this itching, are not subjected to the sufferings of fools and rascals.]

Here, in this material world, the ānanda is sex gratification, sex intercourse. Maithuna. Yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tuccham. This is the most abominable ānanda. This is not ānanda. Although the whole world is mohita... Tribhir guṅamayair bhāvair mohitam. This is the ānanda. In the Western world we have seen even old men, seventy-five years old, eighty years old, they are going to the naked dance club, the sex ānanda. Because in the material world there is no ānanda except this. But in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriya-grāhyam [Bg 6.21].

[The stage of perfection is called trance, or samādhi, when one's mind is completely restrained from material mental activities by practice of yoga. This is characterized by one's ability to see the self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the self. In that joyous state, one is situated in boundless transcendental happiness and enjoys himself through transcendental senses. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being situated in such a position, one is never shaken, even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all miseries arising from material contact.]

What is real ānanda, that you have to taste by your transcendental senses, not these senses, blunt senses. This is blunt senses, covered senses. There is no question of tasting ānanda with these senses. There is no possibility. Ānanda is described. Just like it is said, ramante yoginaḥ anante [Cc Madhya 9.29].

[The Supreme Absolute Truth is called Rāma because the transcendentalists take pleasure in the unlimited true pleasure of spiritual existence.]

Yoginaḥ, those who are transcendentalists, above this material world, they also seeking after ānanda or tasting ānanda. Ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. That is satyānanda. That is real ānanda. Ramante yoginaḥ anante. And there is no end of that ānanda. Nityaṁ-navāyamānam.

Caitanya Mahāprabhu has described,

ceto-darpaṅa-mārjanaṁ bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṅaṁ śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṅaṁ vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam ānandāmbudhi-vardhanam... [Cc Antya 20.12]

[Let there be all victory for the chanting of the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṅa, which can cleanse the mirror of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon that spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṅa expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.]

This is the process of cleansing the mirror of the heart. Mirror, when it isĀnandāmbudhi... We have no experience that ambudhi... Ambudhi means the ocean; and ānandāmbudhi, the ocean of ānanda, vardhanam, it is increasing. It is increasing. We have no experience that the sea or the ocean is increasing. It is decreasing. So this is ānanda. Ramante yoginaḥ anante. That is ananta ānanda. Ramante yoginaḥ anante satyānande cid-ātmani [Cc Madhya 9.29]. That is not jaḍātmā. Here this ānanda is jaḍa, dull. It is not ānanda, material, but cid-ātmani. Iti rāma-padenāsau paraṁ brahmābhidhīyate [Cc Madhya 9.29].

[The Supreme Absolute Truth is called Rāma because the transcendentalists take pleasure in the unlimited true pleasure of spiritual existence.]

These are the description. Rāma means one who takes ānanda in the reality, not in the false. So this is the way of understanding Kṛṣṅa. In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said,

siddhānta baliyā citte nā kara alasa ihā haite kṛṣṅe lāge sudṛḍha mānasa [Cc Ādi 2.117]

"To understand Kṛṣṅa in truth, do not be lazy." "Oh, now I have understood Kṛṣṅa." What you have understood? Therefore we fall down. One should understand... Therefore, to understand Kṛṣṅa in truth, one has to devote, studying Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam nine cantos. In the Tenth Canto Kṛṣṅa is described because... Try. First of all become fit to understand Kṛṣṅa. That is called tattvataḥ.

So Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is there. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayāt itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ [SB 1.1.1]. Try to understand Kṛṣṅa in truth, not superficially. Of course, the ultimate goal is to understand Kṛṣṅa's pastimes in Vṛndāvana. Gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi... But that... First of all, you become siddha. Without becoming siddha, you cannot understand. So long you are asiddha, imperfect, you cannot understand Kṛṣṅa. But if you try, if you associate with the siddhas... Satāṁ prasaṅgān mama vīrya-saṁvido bhavanti hṛt-karṅa-rasāyanāḥ kathāḥ [SB 3.25.25].

[In the association of pure devotees, discussion of the pastimes and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is very pleasing and satisfying to the ear and the heart. By cultivating such knowledge one gradually becomes advanced on the path of liberation, and thereafter he is freed, and his attraction becomes fixed. Then real devotion and devotional service begin.]

You have to associate... Just like in the morning: munibhir mahātmabhiḥ. You have to understand Kṛṣṅa in the association of mahātmās. And who is mahātmā? Mahātmānas tu māṁ pārtha daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ [Bg 9.13].

[O son of Pṛthā, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible.]

Mahātmā is not in this material world. He is in the spiritual world. Daivīṁ prakṛtim āśritāḥ. Bhajanti. And the result is, always engaged in devotional service of Kṛṣṅa. That is mahātmā.

So Kṛṣṅa says that it is not very easy to understand Kṛṣṅa. People understand Kṛṣṅa very easily; therefore they are called sahajiyās. Everything takes very easily. So manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu [Bg 7.3].

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

Manuṣyāṅām. There are 400,000 species of manuṣya—400,000. Catur-lakṣāṅi mānuṣāḥ. Jalajā nava-lakṣāṅi sthāvarā lakṣa-viṁśati, kṛmayo rudra-saṅkhyakāḥ [Padma Purāṅa]. There are statements in the Padma Purāṅa how many living entities, forms, are there. So out of 8,400,000 different forms and species, there are 400,000 species of manuṣya. So out of them, one who is born in India, he is first-class manuṣya. That is a fact. Unfortunately, we are missing the chance. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra [Cc Ādi 9.41].

[One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bhārata-varṣa] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.]

So those who are Indians present here should know that after many pious activities, one gets birth in India, bhārata-bhūmite. They should try to understand Kṛṣṅa. There is facility. There are śāstras. Kṛṣṅa personally speaks Bhagavad-gītā. Vyāsadeva speaks about Kṛṣṅa in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. We are neglecting, we have become so rascal and fools. This is not India's business, to imitate how economic development: "Money, money, money, money, money." This is not India's... India's business is to understand Kṛṣṅa. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. That is India's business. These Americans and Europeans have come here not to see how much you are economically developed, industrially developed. They have got enough of this, enough, more than enough. They don't care for it. The modern young men, they do not like. They are fed up. They have come here to understand Kṛṣṅa. They come here to understand Kṛṣṅa. Manuṣyāṅāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid yatati siddhaye [Bg 7.3].

[Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.]

Therefore we have... We are trying to construct this center. Let everyone come, all over the world. And it is the India's business to understand what is Kṛṣṅa and help them. That is India's business. It is very serious movement, Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement. On this platform, the whole world can be united. It is not ordinary movement—only on the basis of Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Try to understand Kṛṣṅa.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya. Prabhupāda ki jaya. [end]